Need You Tonight
by The Archer Black
Summary: Shockwave proves that no Shadowplay, no matter how extensive, is able to stop him from punching some people, especially if these people do their number on his chivalrous nerve. All reviews welcome, even anonymous ones, but if you want me to reply, please log in or let me know where else I can contact you. List of my accounts is available on my profile.


**Need You Tonight.**

" _(…) So slide over here_

 _And give me a moment_

 _Your moves are so raw_

 _I've got to let you know_

 _I've got to let you know_

 _You're one of my kind_ __ _(…)_ _"_ – INXS _"Need You Tonight"._

 **Warnings** : Autobot-Decepticon relationship.

Timing: Post season 2 finale, in my very own Beauty of the Beast Prime timeline.

Rating: T/M

Pairings: Arcee and Shockwave.

Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.

oOo

 _July. New Kaon re-construction site. Late afternoon._

The New Kaon citadel was starting to take shape. The re-construction process finally yielding fruits in the shape of walls that finally started to rise above the ground. It seemed to take ridiculously long to reach the ground level but Shockwave insisted on not only re-building the tower but also improving it. Megatron was sceptical at first but didn't oppose – he knew that Shockwave knew what he was doing; Shockwave always knew what he was doing.

The improvement included deeper foundation as well as extensive underground complex that were not the part of the original building. The above ground construction would not the vastly different from the original one.

Normally Shockwave was overseeing the construction in person, so when Arcee emerged from the Groundbridge his absence left her puzzled. It wasn't uncommon for him to inspect the progress, or even retreat to his small 'office' for some reason or another, but usually when he was to meet with Arcee, he was awaiting her.

The femme stepped closer to the New Kaon, perhaps something happened requiring his attention? Accidents happened and even Shockwave couldn't foresee them. For a moment her Spark clenched when her imagination suggested that perhaps something happened to Shockwave and that's why he wasn't present. That in turn left her surprised that she would care so deeply for the mech. It wasn't that she held a grudge against him for hacking her brain with Cortical Psychic Path… At least not anymore. It was that as much as she regarded him as a lover and a very devoted one, considering building any future with him, or with anyone else for that matter, was simply foolish – the war could start anew at any time. So why she felt her Spark freeze when a thought of him being hurt crossed her mind?

Arcee shook her helm; this was not the time and certainly not the place to ponder over her own feelings. She was about to come closer to the site when a Vehicon approached her.

"Where's Shockwave?" She asked before the soldier spoke.

"Ma'am, General Shockwave was urgently summoned to Nemesis." The mech replied. "He ordered me to inform you that he will not be able to meet you punctually, and to apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause for you."

"Ahh, Shockwave in his essence." Arcee sighed. This sounded like him and would explain his absence. "All right. When he'll return tell him that apologies accepted."

With that she turned and walked away, leaving the Vehicon behind.

The mech observed as she left and sighed. She couldn't remember him – after all he looked like all the other Vehicons to an untrained optic – but they fought before. In fact she swept the ground with him; he was lucky that he passed out from hitting his helm and survived. He half expected that she'd lash at him for passing her the news; he was so accustomed to the femme being violent. Not that he would ever complain about not being attacked. In fact everyone prayed for the peace to last. As it happened, Vehicons were hard to get the hang of new situations, but the idea of 'not being shot at' became popular pretty fast.

oOo

 _Nemesis. At the same time._

Tarn's report about D.J.D's newest leads on Airachnid was long and detailed. Actually it was overdone, too long and too detailed for something that could have been summed up to 'We have no idea where she is now'.

Of course to D.J.D's defence, they did have more to report than just the fact that they failed to capture her yet. They've been to places where she has been, met people she did some business with and spoke to people she talked to (if they were still alive that is) but all that led them exactly nowhere. She did magnificent job at being elusive. They knew that she'd been in Overlord's company for some time, but they also managed to learn that she was alone now. And this was a big Galaxy; an individual could avoid being found if they wished so, especially freelancers such as Overlord and Airachnid.

But to Shockwave all this was nothing but waste of his time. When Tarn contacted Nemesis he was summoned to participate in the videoconference so he could provide analysis, but there was nothing to analyse really. In the end instead of putting his superb mind to work he was forced to endure prolonged meeting about Airachnid's absence. As far as Shockwave was concerned they could do perfectly fine without him, especially that he had other duties to attend to, and other people, much more appealing people, to meet.

Regardless of the situation, Shockwave was… deeply disappointed, that probably was the most appropriate term, in waste of his time. They could have summon him if the need would arise, not keep him there for an hour to no real avail.

Finally the videoconference was over and Tarn's face vanished from the screen.

"Awww, end so soon? And here I thought that he'd waste some more of my time." Barricade offered sample of his sarcasm. That earned him a raised opticbrow from Megatron but the Tyrant said nothing, it was hard not to agree that Tarn reported lack of progress only.

"Well, as much as it was unsurprisingly fruitless report, it is still important for the D.J.D to report and for us to offer them our analysis and suggestions." Starscream replied annoyed. "This is not some common deserted they're hunting, this is Airachnid!"

"Yes especially that you hold a personal grudge." Motormaster grinned maliciously. "And you're not big and strong to fight her on your own."

Shockwave had to admit, albeit reluctantly, that Motormaster had a point – Starscream's motive behind supporting hunt for Airachnid was based on his personal feelings first and foremost. And these feelings were severely bruised by the fact that Airachnid always seemed to gain upper servo over him.

"She only ever beaten me when cheating, otherwise she always fled." Starscream reminded and that much was also true.

"I recall that you whined that she sic her pet Insecticon at you." Barricade joined Motormaster in ridiculing the Air Commander.

"And that's exactly why we should put more attention into hunting down that wretched femme." Starscream growled, his voice a bit more gravelly than moments before. "If I recall she did attack Nemesis with swarm of Insecticons, did she not? 1)"

No one replied. This was well known fact. As well as the fact that the attack failed only because the Undergrounder femme lost her control over the swarm, which in turn happened only thanks to Arcee tapping her in an emptied Insecticon hibernation pod.

"Any detail that seems insignificant today may be crucial when we analyse the next report." Starscream continued. "We never know what minuscule detail may shed light to where Airachnid is or what she's planning."

"Your argument is… Logical." Shockwave agreed.

Starscream blinked and then lifted proudly his wings. This he did not expect, not that he complained.

"Still, it was a waste of time." Shockwave instantly added. "Tarn could restrict himself to giving a short, general oral report to Soundwave and send detailed, elaborated written report. That would not waste our time by forcing us to arrive here and listen to it."

That was enough, in fact that was too much. For Starscream at least. Everyone was against him and now both Barricade and Motormaster were smirking at his humiliation at the servo (the only servo at that) of Shockwave.

"Well, I bet you find this a complete waste of time. You have better things to do after all." Starscream screeched with irritation and anger. "Pretending that you're supervising the New Kaon construction while rutting with that two-wheeled Autobot floozy of yours, for example!"

It was a flash. No one really expected that to happen. Shockwave, who stood merely few steps away from Starscream, suddenly was in front of the Air Commander. To Starscream it had to look as if the Tarnian simply materialised there. The ex-senator's servo moved in a perfect arch and his good fist, the only fist, connected with the Vosian's jaw with loud 'clang', sending the Seeker back. Before Starscream knew what was happening, he was on the floor2).

Everyone present had the chance to witness, for one short moment, the shadow of Shockwave's pre-Empurata and pre-Shadowplay self, when he was prone to use his fists just as often as his wit. It was but a tiny whiff of how temperamental the Tarnian Noble used to be, but it was a good demonstration of his previous self that left everyone with impression that if this was Shockwave of old, Starscream would probably end under Knockout's tender mercies, looking as if he ended on Megatron's receiving end… or worse.

And then, just like that, the spell was broken. Shockwave was again his usual, dispassionate self.

"I love this moment so much I want to interface with it. 3)" Motormaster murmured to Barricade when Starscream was arranging himself into sitting position.

"I will now return to my usual duties in New Kaon." Shockwave ignored Motormaster's comment. "Should anyone have a dire need of me, I shall be in my on-side office." With that he left.

"Master, will you allow this?" Starscream started to scramble to his pedes. There was slight dent in his face plate where Shockwave's fist connected.

"It seems to be tad too late to prevent this, don't you think Starscream?" Megatron replied with only slightest of suggestion of a smirk. In reality it took everything he had to stop himself from roaring in laughter.

"But master!" The Air Commander sounded scandalised with how lightly the Decepticon Tyrant addressed the incident.

"You brought it on yourself, Starscream." Megatron suddenly lost his mirth and was absolutely serious. "The next time you're tempted to insult someone's significant other, do us all a favour and bite your glossa."

Before Starscream could protest, Megatron left the bridge. Behind Starscream, Barricade approached Soundwave.

'Tell me you have this recorded." He whispered.

In reply Soundwave looked at the grounder and presented a screen-shot showing Starscream sprawled on the floor.

"How much for a copy?" Barricade asked. He wanted, no, he needed to have this.

oOo

 _Shockwave's on-site office, Jasper, Nevada._

Shockwave's so called 'on-site' office wasn't literally on-site. There wasn't really any place suitable to set such an office. There was, naturally, the possibility of setting a barrack in the direct vicinity of the construction but it would still be of no real use as there were no conditions for setting an actual office there – first and foremost there was no safe electric grid available. Not to mention that it would be extremely hard, even for Shockwave, to focus on any work in all the noise that the construction site generated, especially that there would be someone coming and disturb him on top of all that.

This meant that when Shockwave wasn't supervising the construction, he was to be found in his office in Jasper, in an old storage hangar where he was working on supply requirements and logistics for New Kaon, or on his private projects. The office was fully functional with power generator for the computer and lighting, it even had a simple cot for him to rest in case Shockwave would have to stay for the night on site (or rather near it). That, while happened in the past, wasn't the case anymore though – ever since the deconstruction works were finished all work happened during daytime, allowing the concrete to dry and the welds to completely cool down at night.

Shockwave was preparing a progress report for Megatron and at the same time performed research for one of his personal pet projects. He was so engrossed in his work that he missed silent steps approaching him. It was only when a small servo rested on his shoulder that he noticed that he was not alone. His mono-optic head snapped up moved to look at the servo's owner.

"One of the Vehicons told me that you were summoned to Nemesis." Arcee spoke before he could. "I figured that I should give you couple of hours to deal with whatever it was and try to catch you here."

"I was informed that you have accepted my apologies." He stared at her.

"What else could I do?" She smiled and looked at the computer console. "Interested in earthen palaeontology?"

Shockwave's head moved to look at the screen's contents, which indeed included some prehistoric beast's bones.

"You could call it comparative paleontology4)." He confirmed. "I am observing certain similarities in Earth's and Cybertron's extinct species. Considering the massive genetic compatibility of humans and Cybertronians it shouldn't be surprising." He elaborated.

"You know, I've heard of the incident that happened on board." Arcee slowly circled the sitting mech and stood next to him.

"I remain impressed by how fast the news spread." Shockwave admitted. "I would not expect Soundwave to spread this snippet so fast and without a fee."

"It wasn't Soundwave, though I've heard that he has a video record of it." Arcee pushed Shockwave gently so his chair would roll back a little. He did not oppose that. "Megatron told June, June told Jack and Jack told me."

"I should have expected such possibility." The mech admitted.

"I am actually glad to know what happened." Arcee smirked and in one, smooth move she straddled Shockwave's lap. "And I do appreciate what you did. A lot."

"It was not my usual behaviour." He tried to explain. "It was an aberration. A shameful if momentary return of my erstwhile temperamental ego.5)" He continued but stopped. How was he supposed to explain to this femme, that he's not proud (for lack of better term) of his behaviour? Behaviour clearly in the defence of her honour?

"Shhhh. Don't spoil it." Arcee interrupted his thought process by reaching for his antennae. "It doesn't matter. I still like what you did. Wish I was there to see it though." The femme smirked and gently caressed the appendages.

"As you wish." He replied. He didn't want to discuss it right now, not with Arcee in his lap. He reached and rested his good servo on her hip. "This situation seems to quickly evolve into one that demands all thoughts of violence to be discarded in favour of more pleasurable activities."

"Now you're talking…" Arcee purred happily and focused on Shockwave's antennae feeling the mech's servo moving gently to her back and then higher, to her winglets.

The End.

I am tempted to write something about pre-Empurata, pre-Shadowplay Shockwave (again, for the one I already did, read Blast from the Past, it's the third part/chapter "Shadowplay"). I'm also thinking about a short and humorous fic about how Soundwave dropped the twins on Barricade.

1) Transformers: Prime, season 2 episode 10 "Armada"

2) This scene was inspired by episode of Scrubs, season 2, episode 22 "My Dream Job".

3) This is taken from Scrubs, season 4, episode 11 "My Unicorn".

4) And there's perhaps a predacon or two somewhere there too.

5) In Spotlight: Shockwave we can see that Shockwave under pressure can shut off his higher functions and, to put it bluntly, go ape. So, if IDW's G1 Shockwave can, why not Prime Shockwave do it as well? Perhaps not to the lengths that his G1 counterpart where it took him "considerable effort" to return to his normal logical self, but enough to punch Starscream for being rude. Of course Prime Shockwave, as we know, can and is not afraid to be violent; but he does not punch people just because of what they say (he always has good reasons for his violence).

In this place I want to stress that while I use IDW's G1 for reference, I do not simply copy ideas into Aligned Continuity, and I do not use everything I find in G1. I use references but I modify them, this is why it is not some G1/TF: P cross, it's my own, personal, fan-made timeline.


End file.
